Serving as the co-president of the Society for the Promotion of East Asian Liberty for a second year, I am surprised that most Cornell students are unaware of the pro-democracy movements which have swept East Asia, while they are keenly aware of the “summer of love” we experienced in 2020. What is even more surprising is how Cornell students demand the total disarmament of the Cornell University Police Department, while remaining oblivious to the repeated instances of police brutality in Hong Kongers fight for freedom. This seems to be part of a larger pattern on campus, where student politicians and activists repeatedly call out individuals who dare to disagree with their beliefs. And, when given the chance to support fellow protestors and freedom fighters, student politicians demur and decline in silence.
This past year, we have seen campus activists taking up the mantle of Critical Race Theory, accusing those who dare to even question their worldview as being bigoted and racist. Campus activists swarmed after Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson, after he posted two articles challenging the narrative of “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and decrying the rioting of the summer. Even faculty and students within the Law School called for his firing, though (in the end) Professor Jacobson remained and still teaches at the law school because of the university’s academic freedom policy.. In the last Student Assembly election, a candidate directly leveled accusations of racism against a fellow student, after said student merely wrote a piece questioning whether a donation of student resources to leftist political campaigns was the best use of student funds. In this day and age, it seems that this targeting of opposition passes as energetic activism on campus.
However, this same energetic activism by student politicians apparently does not apply to our work at SPEAL even amidst the recent push against anti-Asian American rhetoric. Last year, three other students and I presented an “anti-vandalism” resolution to the Student Assembly. The impetus for this resolution was that multiple pro-Hong Kong posters were torn down by Cornell students. In one instance, the engineering bridge was spray painted and damaged. To prevent this vandalism, I wrote a resolution and presented it to the Student Assembly’s Executive Committee. The first thing we were asked in the committee session was whether we wanted this resolution to be a BDS-style statement. All the presenters, including me, said no.
Then, what ensued was a debate over posters and free speech. Some argued that releasing a statement against the vandalism of posters could encourage hate speech. Still, others believed that vandalism was a form of expression and that passing a resolution against vandalism would impede on other students’ freedoms. In the end, we received no help from the Student Assembly. The pro-Hong Kong posters are still being put up and are constantly torn down. The Cornell Review and The College Fix have been diligent in covering these incidents of vandalism. But, as of now, The Cornell Daily Sun which has thrown its weight behind the protests of this past summer has not yet published an article covering the vandalism this year. The same outrage unleashed on the campus conservatives appears to disappear when the questions of Hong Kong or Xinjiang are raised.
My only question is this, where was the outrage for us? Where was the outrage from Assembly members when the Executive Committee did not let our resolution out of committee? Where was the outrage when our posters decrying police brutality and oppression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were viciously torn down? Where was the outrage against the CCP when we memorialized the lives of the Hong Kongers who died fighting for their freedom? The answer? There was no outrage, and there will be no outrage for us.
The brave protestors in Hong Kong and Myanmar are fighting for values diametrically opposed to those of the rioters and anarchists we saw last summer. Hong Kongers––some proudly waving our Stars and Stripes––are fighting for liberty, freedom of speech, and democracy. They are fighting for the ability to question the prevailing narrative and to engage in honest, spirited debate. They are fighting for the freedom to rule themselves, separate from a Marxist, Communist regime. Their values do not align with those held by the protestors in the US the past summer. They are fundamentally opposed to the vision of those who wish to totally dismantle the foundation of American democracy, including the right to voice meaningful opposition.
We, at SPEAL, will keep fighting to make the voices of the Hong Kongers and the brave students in Myanmar heard. We will continue to advocate for international students fearing retribution from their home countries’ governments. We will keep fighting for freedom, even if we are ignored.
